Carnival Corporation, a member of Champions 12.3, found a way to treat surplus food as a problem with a destination, not a dead end. Instead of routing surplus food straight to the trash, the company built a way to get it into the hands of the communities its ships visit. This meant clearing the customs, safety and regulatory hurdles that usually keep surplus food from ever leaving the ship. Across a global fleet of more than 90 vessels, the approach cut food waste per person by 47% in six years — a year ahead of the company's own interim target.
Perspectives
For years, the playbook for reducing food waste in university canteens looked the same everywhere: a poster on the wall, an announcement over the speakers, a campaign urging students to clean their plates. A member of Champions 12.3, China Agricultural University (CAU), decided to test a new hypothesis — that students don't waste food because they don't care, but because they can't see what they're wasting. By making waste visible, the university cut food waste by 48.5% in two years.
This post originally appeared on WRI.org.
As much of the world ground to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some notable trends started to emerge around other global challenges. CO2 emissions dropped by 6.4% worldwide. In the UK, where I live, household-level food waste – a major contributor to climate change – dropped by around 30% in April 2020, soon after the start of the first lockdown. These numbers might sound like positive news in an otherwise painful year, but I and many other experts see them as reminders that we are still very much in the midst of multiple major global crises.
Food loss and waste has risen on the global agenda in recent years, and for good reason. A full one-third of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted between the farm and people’s plates. This results in $940 billion in economic losses every year and 8% of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions – all while 1 in 7 people still don’t have enough to eat.
Champions 12.3 is a coalition of nearly 40 executives across business, government and civil society who are doing something about it. Here, Champions answer some of the most frequently asked questions about how to reduce food loss and waste around the world.
As climate change climbs on the global agenda, one issue is climbing along with it: food loss and waste.
In light of the climate crisis and over-consumption of natural resources, the best way to feed a growing global population is not to increase agricultural production, but to reduce waste and better value the food already being produced.
Opinion Editorials
Paul Polman on Fixing a Broken Food System
Author: Paul Polman
Source: Wall Street Journal
We have a collective responsibility to halve food loss and waste
Author: Liz Goodwin
Source: Thomson Reuters
Clock Ticking on Food Waste
Author: Dave Lewis
Source: Huffington Post
¿Amas la naturaleza? Deja de tirar comida
Author: Yolanda Kakabadse
Source: El Pais
Future of Food: Reducing Waste
Author: Vytenis Andriukaitis
Source: Impakter
Food waste: how governments, financiers and consumers can play their part
Author: Sunny Verghese
Source: Thomson Reuters
Tackling food waste: something politicians can agree on
Author: Liz Goodwin
Source: The Hill
Curbing food waste saves money, as well as the planet
Author: Dave Lewis
Source: The Telegraph
Choose or Lose: Why Gisele and I Are Shifting to a Sustainable Diet
Author: Andrew Steer
Source: Huffington Post
Las ciudades de America Latina deben luchar contra el desperdicio de comida
Author: Yolanda Kakabadse
Source: esglobal
By Measuring Food Waste, We Can Manage It
Author: Louise Fresco, Peter Bakker, Paul Bulcke, Hans Hoogeveen, Paul Polman
Source: Thomson Reuters
The Food We Don’t Eat
Author: Liz Goodwin
Source: The Huffington Post
We grow enough food. Getting it onto people’s plates is the problem.
Author: Kanayo F. Nwanze
Source: The Huffington Post
There Is No Time to Waste on Food Waste
Author: Dave Lewis
Source: The Grocer
The Immorality of Food Waste
Author: Vytenis Andriukaitis
Source: The Huffington Post
A solution to hunger? Stop throwing dinner away: Column
Author(s): Judith Rodin and Sam Kass
Source: USA Today